Next-gen weight loss drugs will have fewer side effects than Ozempic, pharma CEO says
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Zealand Pharma CEO Adam Steensberg said Friday that the company is working on a next-generation weight loss drug that’s designed to work differently from those currently on the market and with the potential for fewer side effects.
“Our focus is really what’s needed in the 2030s, and it’s really about establishing, you can say, the next-generation molecules that are not based on GLP-1s,” Steensberg told CNBC during an interview Friday.
GLP-1s are a class of diabetes and obesity medications that mimic a hormone that regulates blood sugar and suppresses appetite. Demand for these medications have turned Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk (NVO) and Eli Lilly (LLY), the producer of Mounjaro and Zepbound, into the largest pharma companies in the world. Morgan Stanley (MS) analysts anticipate the global market for GLP-1s will reach $105 billion by 2030.
Ozempic and prescription weight loss drugs: How they work, what they cost, side effects, and everything to know
With so much money at stake, several companies — including Zealand — are racing to disrupt the weight loss drug duopoly dominated by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.
Zealand’s leading candidate, petrelintide, which Steensberg refers to as the company’s “crown jewel,” works differently from Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs because it does not mimic that same hormone (GLP-1, or glucagon-like peptide-1). Instead, petrelintide is long-acting amylin analog. It works by mimicking a hormone that is co-secreted with insulin in the pancreas that increases satiety.
Zealand said in June that patients taking a high dose of petrelintide over 16 weeks lost an average of 8.6% of their weight. For comparison, a clinical trial of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy found that it helped users lose about 15% of their body weight over 68 weeks.
Zealand is pitching petrelintide as an alternative for patients who can’t tolerate GLP-1 treatments, which can include side effects such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.
According to Zealand, there were no serious or severe adverse events during the study, and only one out of 48 participants dropped out of the trial due to side effects.
“We have a very strong feeling that this could become a foundational therapy in the future — something that provides the weight loss that patients are looking for but with the potential for a better tolerability profile,” Steensberg told CNBC.
